Top 5 Next-Gen Cop Car Gadgets

Hollywoodand CSI notwithstanding, enforcing the law isn't a particularly high-tech endeavor. But a piecemeal revolution is underway, with individual agencies testing a variety of gadgets for their patrol vehicles.

The E7 doesn't exist, but if police agencies nationwide know what's good for them, it will. It would be the world's first purpose-built police car, a diesel-powered Dodge Charger look-alike with a laundry list of built-to-order options, such as armored front doors and dashboards (capable of stopping 9-mm rounds) and forward-looking infrared cameras. But the biggest potential innovation here is the business model. "Law enforcement agencies don't buy in bulk," says William Li, chairman and CEO of Atlanta-based Carbon Motors. "They have no economies of scale."

For major automakers, there's no profit in designing a niche product like a purpose-built squad car. So agencies continue to buy standard Crown Victorias or Chevy Tahoes and then install aftermarket lights, sirens, laptop docks and other gear. As a leaner, niche-vehicle startup, Carbon Motors—started by ex-Ford executives—wants to deliver a high-performance, fully integrated patrol vehicle for roughly the same price as the retrofitted models currently on the road. In theory, by standardizing the installation process for the various police-friendly options, and using newer manufacturing processes (including thermoplastics instead of paint for customized color schemes), Carbon Motors could squeak out a profit that, as Li calls them, "legacy automakers" couldn't.

The E7 would go from 0 to 60 mph in 6 seconds, with a top speed of 155 mph, and a slew of humble-sounding improvements, like seats that can accommodate radios and other bulky equipment. According to Li, the E7 would start in the high-20s, climbing up to as much as $70,000 with options like license-plate-reading cameras and even WMD sensors. In the long run, the E7 could prove more cost-effective than current patrol cars: Carbon Motors claims it will be 40 percent more fuel efficient, with a life span of 250,000 miles (most models used as police cars are expected to last for 70,000 miles).

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Short-Term Impact: Carbon Motors is still on the hunt for funding. According to Li, a "large financing transaction" could lead to a working E7 within three years.

2. Project54 Voice-Command System

Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have developed a system that lets officers use voice commands to run a license plate, turn on the lights and siren, and even clock a speeding car. The Project54 system (the name is a dig at the fact that current cop cars are about as low-tech as they were in the old TV show, Car 54 Where Are You?) is a relatively simple piece of software. It works on any moderately powerful laptop or tablet running Windows 2000, XP or Vista, and it integrates existing equipment, such as lights and radios. And strictly speaking, Project54 is dirt cheap: $500 per agency for the software license, no matter how many vehicles it runs on (although it could cost up to $4000 per vehicle, depending on how outdated a department's equipment is).

Here's how it works: An officer is deciding whether to pull over a suspicious car. Holding down the system's push-to-talk button, he can read off the car's license plate to search for known warrants. Without taking his eyes off the road, he can listen to the results. If the car suddenly takes off, the officer can say, "Pursuit," activating the lights and siren, as well as his own vehicle's GPS tracking system. If the chase takes him through various counties, he can switch radio frequencies with simple voice prompts, and tell the computer to log specific events, noting the GPS coordinates where something was thrown from the fleeing car, or where it struck another vehicle.

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It gets even more futuristic: A handful of officers are testing Project54 with PDAs, checking a driver's license on the handheld's screen and running voice commands through the PDA's mic. The system has also been installed on six motorcycles, using helmet mics, and also has handlebar-mounted, WiFi-enabled touchscreens, which can be detached and used up to 300 ft. from a bike-mounted Panasonic Toughbook. No specialized gear, no experimental hardware—just a smart application.

According to William Lenharth, an associate professor at the University of New Hampshire and the co-director of Project54, the system accurately responds to voice commands 95 percent of the time. And after four years on the road, its only vulnerability appears to be the PCs it runs on. "The computer is the most unreliable part," Lenharth says, "and it's pretty reliable." A dozen or so Project54-enabled laptops failed when officers in New Hampshire turned them on in subzero temperatures.

Short-Term Impact: Project54 is currently installed on about 1000 vehicles, most of which are in New Hampshire. But Lenharth insists demand is increasing rapidly. "We aren't selling anything," he says. "This is basically an open-source system." The Texas State Police, for example, are looking into outfitting some 2000 vehicles with the voice-command technology. The Coast Guard is currently testing an installation on a boat, using a waterproof tablet, and a Project54-enabled all-terrain vehicle is being tested by the National Guard.

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3. Automatic License Plate Recognition Cameras

In any appraisal of high-tech policing, you're bound to brush up against Big Brother-worthy technology. Case in point: Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR), which is essentially cameras that run every single plate they see. According to Brian Shockley, vice president of marketing for Tennessee-based PIPS Technology, the leading manufacturer of ALPR, the most common configuration is a three-camera system. All of the cameras have a fixed position and focal length, with two facing forward—one scanning the lane to the right of the car, the other scanning the lane to the left—and a side-mounted camera intended for parking lots. Each camera sends a constant stream of infrared and full-color images back to a processor in the trunk, which searches them against current warrant lists, Amber Alerts and other records that are updated daily. "The officer gets results in near real time," Shockley says, "or about 20 milliseconds."

The cameras work at high speeds, with 180-mph differentials. So whether a car blazes by a stationary police car at 140 mph, or passes in an oncoming lane while both cars are doing 80 mph, the system should pick up the suspect's plates.

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But here's where things get creepy: Since each agency determines how long to keep the reams of data collected daily by each ALPR system, investigators could potentially search through thousands of drivers in a given area, during a given period, to help track down a hit-and-run driver. And PIPS sees the technology being installed on nonpatrol vehicles as well, such as street cleaners. Nothing, in fact, is sacred.

Short-Term Impact: PIPS hasn't provided exact numbers, but despite its relatively high price tag—a three-camera system costs around $25,000—ALPR systems are already in use across the United States, including agencies in California, Arizona, Texas and New Jersey.

4. StarChase GPS Launcher

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This system is behind schedule—when we last covered it, the plan was for a deployment by the end of this year—but Virginia-based StarChase now claims that the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department is closing in on the final stage of testing, which could put a deployed GPS launcher on the road early next year.

The purpose of StarChase is to stop high-speed pursuits by letting officers launch a sticky GPS tracker onto a fleeing vehicle. Savvy criminals, particularly ones who notice the green laser sight or hear the car-mounted air cannon go off, could pull over and rip off the transponder. But by then, the police would have had time to set up roadblocks and choppers, closing the net with less risk of a pursuit-ending crash.

Short-Term Impact: Everything is riding on the L.A. test. If StarChase is considered effective in one of the most chase-heavy regions in the country, other agencies are likely to start their own field-tests.

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5. Rumbler Intersection Clearing System

Whether it's due to cranked-up radios or a plummeting sense of civic duty, today's drivers are apparently less likely to get out of the way of a police siren. Taking a page from thunderous, bass-heavy car audio systems, Chicago-based Federal Signal created the Rumbler. The "Intersection Clearing System" consists of two 8-in. woofers and an amp, adding a low-frequency signal to an existing siren's high-pitched wail.

According to Joseph Bader, vice president of engineering for Mobile Systems at Federal Signal, the Rumbler was designed to operate at 180 to 360 cycles per second. Sirens, by comparison, are in the 500- to 2000-cycle range, and music is either high in cycles, or extremely low (those bassed-up audio systems are buzzing at 120 cycles or less). The Rumbler's range is not only pretty different, it's pretty disconcerting, which is what makes it effective. And since the system is essentially duplicating the siren's existing signal at a much lower frequency, listeners quickly realize that the vibrations they're feeling are mapped to the rise and fall of the approaching siren.

In most cases, officers turn on their Rumblers for a single 10-second interval, which is long enough to clear an intersection or a jammed-up stretch of highway. The effective range is up to 200 ft. ahead of the police vehicle. But Bader says the system is more useful in close quarters.

Short-Term Impact: The Rumbler is being adopted by agencies on the East coast, particularly in metropolitan areas, such as Washington, D.C. The system's simple installation and incredibly low cost—around $600 per car—could make it a fixture in city-based fleets within a few years.

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